Cholesterol Control: Not Where We Want It

It is a good news and bad news scenario. The good news is nearly 50% of people with high cholesterol are getting treatment compared to about 28% a decade ago. The bad news is only 50% of people with high cholesterol are getting treatment. There are still 48 million adults with high cholesterol levels that are not controlling it. This puts them at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. Of particular concern is the LDL or bad cholesterol the LDL should not be over 160 for healthy people and many are saying it should be below 100 for those with heart disease or diabetes this is a number which is not changing rapidly enough. There are other issues as well. For instance treatment is much more common in people who have health insurance than those who are uninsured. This study looked at more than 79,000 adults in eight countries. In case you're wondering diagnosis of elevated cholesterol levels was highest in the United States and lowest in Thailand.